Anacortes, Washington, is building a public broadband network. Is it a model for bridging digital divide?

Anacortes (WA) will join a growing cohort of cities, dissatisfied enough with the private sector, that have decided to offer internet service as a public utility. Officials in Anacortes have spent the past few years researching how to become an internet provider, creating a plan, and building the infrastructure necessary. This month, the city plans to pilot service in three areas. If all goes well, they will expand the service area with the goal of providing internet to the entire community by 2023. The service will cost residential customers $39 per month for 100 megabit-per-second service and $69 for gigabit speeds. Businesses will pay $89 or $149 per month for those speeds. Anacortes is the first American city to use a technique for installing fiber optic cable using existing water lines. Officials chose that method because it’s less expensive and faster to run the cables.